They look more like elastomers for the rear suspension…remember, nappies can only provide so much travel for when the little tikes are performing hardcore aerial maneouvres like whips & superman seat-grabs over the couch! ;)

If the kids are really young (3-4) or small, then these balance bikes tend to be a lot lighter than even the smallest sized bikes. For my kid I had a balance bike, then put them onto a bike with the pedals off (to get used to the increased weight for 2 weeks), then put the pedals on. Pedalling with no training wheels in 15 minutues!

If you just take the pedals off, it is a good idea to put something (duct tape etc) around the sharp edges of the crank as most of the cheap kids bikes don't have nicely rounded cranks and it is the first thing to dig into shins/calves.

because balance bikes weight around 3kg, where as a normal kids bike weighs 10kg. if that is not enough to put your kid off, it will definitely put you off when your kid gets tired of riding his bike and wants you to carry it.

He is quite big so i know size and strength will not be an issue… he has a trike that push him on, but he has not enough power to pedal it him shelf…… he is for even climbing on his elder brothers (12yo) bmx and fallen off it.